Wood in water

[Stuart Pauker]

Pacific Warrior wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I am setting up a new freshwater aquarium (30 gallons) and my water is
> brown, due to
> the addition of two large logs of wood in the decor. Is there anything I
> can do to correct this? Or do I just wait?
>
> There is no fish in the tank yet, and I changed 1/3 of the water twice
> already.
>
> It's been up for 4 days now.
> Thanks in advance!
>
> --
> The Pacific Warrior
> Strength, Love & Peace

Hi,

Your wood is releasing tannins. They're what's coloring your water. I don't know what kind of wood it is or
where you got it from so it's hard to say how long it will leach for. If you just found the wood outside, I'd
take it out and boil it to kill all the nasties(for lack of a better word!). But to answer your question,
fresh carbon will remove that yellow/brown tint.

Stuart

[Tony Lucas]

On 22 Jul 1997 01:12:31 GMT, pti...@lynx.dac.neu.edu (patrick timlin)
wrote:

>Pacific Warrior (fpell...@motion2000.com) wrote:
>
>: I am setting up a new freshwater aquarium (30 gallons) and my water is

>: brown, due to the addition of two large logs of wood in the decor. Is
>: there anything I can do to correct this? Or do I just wait?
>: There is no fish in the tank yet, and I changed 1/3 of the water twice
>: already.
>

>It might stay that way for months or more depending on the wood. Simply
>keep up partial water changes. The good news is that your fish not only
>will not be harmed by it nor mind it, but depending on the fish, many
>might actually prefer it as it mimic the color of the water in many of
>the South American rivers (tea colored).
>
>Just try to think of it as being authentic looking rather than just
>"brown." :)
>
One of the ways I heard to combat this and have used myself with
success, is to paint the drift wood completely with Marine
Polyurathane, a varnish used on boats, give this a could of weeks to
dry and then use the wood, the wood of course must be dry before
doning this,

Tony

--Be a good animal, true to your animal instincts.
D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930)

[SCREWAMONL]

>I am setting up a new freshwater aquarium (30 gallons) and my water is
>brown, due to
>the addition of two large logs of wood in the decor. Is there anything
I
>can do to correct this? Or do I just wait?

Did you cure the wood first?
What kind of wood is it?
Did you find the wood or buy it?
What is your desired ph?
If it is driftwood, where did you get it?

Until I know that stuff, i can't give better advice.

Until then:
remove the wood, and change your water.
if the wood will fit in a pot, boil it on the stove. you can add a little
salt (non-iodized) to the water at first if you want. when you have a nice
coloured tea, remove the water, add new water and boil it again. keep
doing this until you have clear water, then soak the wood in a clean
bucket for a few days to a week. optionally, afterwards, you can seal the
wood with a transparent polyurithane paint.

[patrick timlin]

: pti...@lynx.dac.neu.edu (patrick timlin) wrote:
: >It might stay that way for months or more depending on the wood. Simply

: >keep up partial water changes. The good news is that your fish not only
: >will not be harmed by it nor mind it, but depending on the fish, many
: >might actually prefer it as it mimic the color of the water in many of
: >the South American rivers (tea colored).

Tony Lucas (tk.l...@xtra.co.nz) replied:
: One of the ways I heard to combat this and have used myself with

: success, is to paint the drift wood completely with Marine
: Polyurathane, a varnish used on boats, give this a could of weeks to
: dry and then use the wood, the wood of course must be dry before
: doning this,

Also, this might not be a great idea if you keep any algae eating fish
that tend to rasp (scrape) wood as they graze. In particular, many types
of Plecos will do this. the varnish probably is not the greatest thing
for their diet.

Patrick Timlin http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/4742/
pti...@geocities.com

[VC]

RE: Discoloration caused by wood leaking tannins.

I have wood in all of my tanks and terrariums. I boil the wood in a
large pot for 4 to 7 hours doing several water changes along the way.
The first water out of the pot is dark, the next lighter, the last
almost clear. Once I started doing this I got no discoloration of the
fish tank water after adding the wood. This also kills anything in the
wood (disease, parasistes, etc) and makes the wood soggy so it sinks
without requiring any weights.

Prior to the boiling I generally soak it for a day in bleach water
(1gallon of water + 2 tablespoons of chlorox). This may be overkill
but I tend to over engineer... :)

-Walter

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[Torian & Allisa Walker]

A faster way in doing this is this:
Boil the wood totally submerged in water. Continue to change the water,
you will see the color disappear. Continue to change the water. This
process will take about 5 hrs. total. let the wood cool and then place it
in your tank. presto,

T.

Tony Lucas <tk.l...@xtra.co.nz> wrote in article
<33d679ba...@news.xtra.co.nz>...

> On 22 Jul 1997 01:12:31 GMT, pti...@lynx.dac.neu.edu (patrick timlin)
> wrote:
>
> >Pacific Warrior (fpell...@motion2000.com) wrote:
> >

> >: I am setting up a new freshwater aquarium (30 gallons) and my water is

> >: brown, due to the addition of two large logs of wood in the decor. Is
> >: there anything I can do to correct this? Or do I just wait?

> >: There is no fish in the tank yet, and I changed 1/3 of the water twice
> >: already.
> >

> >It might stay that way for months or more depending on the wood. Simply

> >keep up partial water changes. The good news is that your fish not only

> >will not be harmed by it nor mind it, but depending on the fish, many
> >might actually prefer it as it mimic the color of the water in many of
> >the South American rivers (tea colored).
> >

> >Just try to think of it as being authentic looking rather than just
> >"brown." :)
> >

> One of the ways I heard to combat this and have used myself with
> success, is to paint the drift wood completely with Marine
> Polyurathane, a varnish used on boats, give this a could of weeks to
> dry and then use the wood, the wood of course must be dry before
> doning this,
>